Many gaming laptops suffer from varying degrees of prohibitive weight issues (don’t we all), oftentimes defeating the entire purpose of lugging a shrunken computer to the library or a friend’s house. Leave it to Razer to bring some much-needed portability back to this evolving class of devices, and it’s paired with an external graphics enclosure that promotes a rather compelling hybrid gaming lifestyle.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not just a gamer. I’ve got other stuff going on in my life, and being a writer first and foremost, I tend to shy away from so-called ‘gaming laptops’ largely because they’re a serious pain to carry around. That's especially so if I want to go work in a coffee shop or outside at the park in addition to launching something from my Steam library. Yes, I understand that achieving the sort of performance and graphical prowess PC gamers typically demand requires significant internal hardware, hence the extra baggage. But if I audibly groan while picking up a capable gaming laptop, I’d rather just play on a fully-fledged desktop at that point. And really, there’s slim chance that I’ll be dragging said outlandish gaming laptop to different locations for productivity purposes, just so I can get a few games of Overwatch in between writing sessions.

A shot of the Blade Stealth with its screen open.Credit: Mitch Wallace

That said, I quite understandably jumped at the chance to test out Razer’s gunmetal Blade Stealth alongside the accompanying Core V2, both of which I’ve been able to live with and game on for the last several months. In other words, I’ve had plenty of time to test things out, and while there are a few drawbacks to this particular setup, I have grown to really love the entire concept of a plug-and-play gaming laptop. It’s a newer space within the PC gaming world, an exciting one that I think will prove really successful once certain growing pains get ironed out. Think of it as productivity meets uncompromising entertainment, at least for the most part.

The premise is simple: An ultra-light, ultra-portable laptop (or ultrabook, if you prefer) that can be used for getting things done on the go, which can also be plugged into an easily-upgradable external graphics housing at home for (almost) desktop-quality gaming. The Blade Stealth I currently have on hand is an older model at this point, sporting a 13.3” QHD+ capacitive multi-touch display, an Intel Core i7-7500U 2.7 GHz CPU, 16GB of LPDDR3 RAM, a 512GB SSD and weighing in at just under 3 pounds. Trust me—this thing is light, and one of the reasons I love it so much. It’s a true laptop in every sense of the word, and won’t make your legs feel like they’re being crushed under the weight of a thousand lost Fortnite matches.

The keyboard is a little on the small side but totally usable.Credit: Mitch Wallace

So how are day-to-day operations? Battery life is decent on the Stealth. If it’s in sleep mode, I’ve found that it can last for literal weeks, instantly glowing back to life after long stretches of hibernation. I had no problem getting through an entire day out and about while doing basic web surfing, Spotify listening and wasting time on social media. But under intense gaming and productivity use, it seems to deliver around a half day of functionality, which isn’t amazing, nor is it exactly dreadful. I would have liked to see better battery performance overall, though maybe the newer Stealth iterations improve on this functionality. Faster power draining could also be the result of how great the screen looks, which displays games in brilliant color and contrast. The illuminated keyboard, the brightness of which you can adjust in the Razer Synapse app, could also possibly contribute to reduced battery life. It’s important to note, however, that’s there’s no cool signature Chroma integration with the gunmetal Stealth. I think Razer was going for less of a ‘gamer-y’ aesthetic with this model, and I actually don’t mind the lack of RGB color waves.

The keyboard works well enough, though for someone with big hands like me, it is a bit on the small size and can contribute to accidental button presses. Can’t really fault the Blade Stealth for its minimalism though, since it’s a laptop geared toward mobility and portability. Basic productivity is really solid, with the Stealth handling multi-tasking, media playback, file transferring and word processing without a hitch. On another note, the Stealth itself can get rather warm, especially during intense gaming, but it’s nothing worrisome. And speaking of gaming, you won’t realize this laptop’s full potential without the Core V2 and a nice GPU, which essentially outsources all the graphical processing to a slick metal housing (complete with customizable Chroma lighting), and in my particular case, a GTX 1070. This is done via Thunderbolt cable and is a simple as plugging things in via USB-C. The Stealth by itself is usually capable of running games on low to medium settings, and tends to chug with more intensive titles like Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (this was a slideshow even on modest settings). But attach a Core and it’s basically like you’ve given your Stealth an official Power Rangers morpher, and oh boy, here come the Zords.

Razer's Core V2.Credit: Mitch Wallace

Really, with an external graphics card attached, this ultrabook transforms into something that can run just about anything you can throw at it. Sure, you’re not going to achieve mega-maxed-out desktop performance with new games running at peak face-melting settings, but I’d wager you’ll get around 90 percent of the way there (depending on your graphics card, of course). That’s pretty incredible for a device as slim and portable as the Stealth, and let me tell you, there’s something supremely satisfying about being able to work and casually game on this laptop during the day while on the go, then come home, plug it into the Core V2 and jump into some of the latest PC releases. Yeah, you’re not getting supreme graphics power while in portable mode, but I’ll gladly trade that for feather-light construction and the option to seriously game at my desk with the same laptop.

Still, it’s not all dandelions and sunshine. Strangely, wi-fi connectivity has been a huge issue for me on the Blade Stealth, with intermittent drops occurring out of the blue for no apparent reason. I’ve uninstalled supposedly troublesome apps and suites, updated and deleted drivers and messed around with various settings, all to no avail. What seems to have plastered the problem, at least temporarily, is only allowing the laptop to exclusively connect to my 2.4 GHz network. Every time I connect to my 5 GHz network, the wireless connection gives out within minutes, with the only remedy being a full restart of the Stealth. I’ve also noticed some Core connectivity issues after the most recent Windows update, but I’m sure that can be remedied with a software update.

Here you can get a good look at the Core V2's ports.Credit: Mitch Wallace

I know not everyone will dig the hybrid gaming lifestyle that Razer is selling, especially when you consider that you need to shell out over $1,000 for the laptop itself, then an additional $500 for the Core, plus even more cash for a capable graphics card. But significant price aside, it’s a seriously attractive option for this gamer, because I can reap the productivity benefits of a really slick ultrabook while retaining the ability to game in big ways with external processing power.